Bag holding device



April 26, 1949. E. B. POTTER BAG HOLDING DEVICE Filed Jan. 50, 1947 INVENTOR EDWIN B. POTTER Patented Apr. 26, 1949 UNITED STATES ?ATENT OFFICE BAG HOLDING DEVICE Edwin E. Potter, Lowell, Mich.

Application January 30, 1947, Serial No. 725,192

2 Claims. (Cl. 248-100) This invention relates to a portable bag holder, and particularly to a type thereof by which the mouth of said bag Will be positively engaged and held open.

Persons acquainted with the problems and difficulties encountered when attempting to fill bags, such as of paper or cloth construction and especially of medium or large capacity, have long been conscious of the desirability of a positive means by which such bags may be held open and in a substantially upright position for filling.

Those portable bag holders presently available are designed almost entirely for special bags and are not of sufficient general applicability to meet the general need. However, the farmer, the distributer of farm produce, and innumerable others, have a definite, age-old need for a simple, inexpensive, portable and positive means by which the mouths of bags, especially such standard ones as the common gunny sack, can be held open with a minimum of effort and time.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this in vention to provide a portable type bag holder which will positively engage and hold open the mouth of a bag in position for filling,

A further object of this invention is to provide means as aforesaid which is especially suited to non-self supporting bags, such as those fabricated from paper and cloth.

A further object of this invention is to provide means as aforesaid whose construction is readily adaptable to large bags as well as small bags, and wherein a single device will be usable with bags of a substantial range of sizes.

A further object of this invention is to provide means as aforesaid which is simple and inexpensive to construct and can be fabricated easily by unskilled workmen.

A further object of this invention is to provide means as aforesaid which will be simple and easy to use.

Other objects purposes, not specifically mentioned above, will be apparent to those familiar with the 'art upon referring to the accompanying drawings and upon reading the following specification.

In order to meet those objects and purposes heretofore mentioned, as well as others relating thereto, I have first provided a U-shaped body member, preferably of metal, to which a supporting bracket is secured. The said body member is advantageously constructed so that the area defined by and a straight line connecting its free ends will be approximately equal to the area of the mouth of the bag which it is designed to support. Said body member is then provided with means for positively engaging said mouth of said bag, which means have a resilient portion which both accommodates the device to bags of somewhat variable sizes and in all cases keeps sufiicient tension on the bags to hold them firmly in open position.

For an illustration of a preferred embodiment of the invention, attention is directed to the ac companying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the said embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the said embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 is a section view taken along the line IVIV of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is an oblique View of an alternate embodiment of the invention.

For the purposes of illustration, the following description of the portable bag holder, to which this invention relates, will be directed towards a construction thereof particularly designed to accommodate a relatively large bag, such as that type commonly referred to as a burlap bag or gunny sack. It will be understood, however, that such treatment of the subject is illustrative only and is not intended to limit in any way the scope of the invention.

The U-shaped tubular body member ID, best shown in Figure 1, constitutes the means about which the mouth of the bag to be held is stretched, as shown in phantom at I I. Said U-shaped member I0 is supported by a support bracket l 2 which may be secured to said U-shaped member ill, as hereinafter described.

Said suppo rt bracket is preferably, but not necessarily, fabricated from a piece of sheet steel or bar stock in such width and thicknms as required by the conditions under which a given device is to be used. Said support bracket I2 is bent into a right angle at I3 to provide ample clearance between the back edge of the U-shaped member l0, and the facing surface of the object from which or upon which said portable bag holder is suspended or supported.

The free end of the horizontal portion I4 is bent, as illustrated in Figure 3, to conform with and wrap partially around the cylindrical, central section I 5 of said tubular U-shaped body member ID. The edge it of said horizontal portion 14 is secured to said member ID in any suitable manner, such as by welding or bolting. The vertical portion 11 of said support bracket may be provided with a slotted opening [8 for easy engagement with or removal from a proper hooked means or other support not shown.

The U-shaped member It may be advantageously fabricated from metal tubing, approximately one half inch in diameter for one preferred size of wide usefulness, so that there is a central section I between two free end sections 20 and 2|. These free end sections are within approximately of being perpendicular to said central section and are within approximately 30 of being parallel to each other, as shown in Figure 1. It will be understood, of course, that the above mentioned angular relationships between said sections I5, and 2| are referred to illustratively only and may be substantially varied without going beyond the scope of the invention.

Said U-shaped member I0 is preferably, though not necessarily, formed so that the bends in the tubing between the sections l5 and 20 and the sections I5 and 2| are of a relatively large radius. At points in said bends, spaced equally from the center of said central section l5, there are holding pins 22 and 23, one in each bend, which extend entirely and diametrically through said tubing by means of suitable openings therein. The oneend of each said holding pins is flush with the outer surface of said tubing on the inside of the said bend. The other end of each of said holding pins has a tapered point which extends beyond the outer surface of said tubing on the outside of said bend a sufficient distance to engage and hold a, bag. The said pins are secured to said tubing in any appropriate manner, such as by welding where they are flush with the surface of said tubing on the inside of the bend.

As illustrated in Figure 4 with respect to the cross-sectional view of the free end section 2 l, a tension pin is slidably held Within the otherwise open end of each of the said free end sections 20 and 2|. Said tension pins are each comprised of a cylindrical plunger 26, a plunger rod 21 of diameter less than the plunger and a plunger rod head 28 of substantially the same diameter as the plunger, all three of which are advantageously though not necessarily, integral with each other. Said plunger and plunger rod head fit closely but slidably within the tubular ends of the body member H]. A suitable resilient means, such as a coiled spring 30, is held in compression between each plunger rod head 28 and that part of the holding pin 22 or 23 which is inside the tubing within which a given spring is held.

Each of said springs is prevented from eject-.

ing its respective tension pin 25 from the open end of the associated free end section by means of a stop screw 3| which is threadedly received through an appropriate opening in the tubing so as to intercept the side of the plunger rod head opposite to that which bears against the spring 30. Said stop screws may enter the said free end section from any side, as desired, but they will each be spaced from the nearest open end thereof so that the plungers 26 of the tension pins are always each sufficiently engaged with the asso ciated end of the U-shaped body member that said tension pins 25 will safely hold on their outer ends a proportionate share of the weight which the holder is designed to support.

It is apparent that the length of each of the tension pins and the distance between each of the stop screws 3| and the associated open ends of the free end sections will depend largely upon the size and strength of bag to be held by a particular bag holder. I

In operation, the portable bag holder must first be mounted on some suitable support, such as a wall, a wagon box or a special frame. Since the said portable bag holder III is not normally intended to support the contents of a bag, said ba holder should be mounted at such distance from the floor, or other base means, that the weight of the contents of the bag will be imposed directly on such base and little or no weight will be borne by the ba holder itself. However, it will be found that this bag holder may be constructed to support a considerable weight so that in such cases the bag can be supported solely from it.

The bag, here a burlap bag, is held upright and open so that the points 29 of the tension pins 25 may enter the mouth of said bag and engage what may be termed the front portion of the inside of said bag a short distance, as about one inch, below its top edge. Care will be exercised that such front portion of the said bag extending between the tension pins is reasonably taut. The workman then pulls on the opposite, or rear, edge of the mouth of said bag in such direction that the tension pins will be depressed into the open ends of the said free end sections 20 and 2|, and bring said rear edge first under said 'U-shaped body member and then up over the points of the pins 22 and 23. The said rear edge is then released so that said pins 22 and 23 will be engaged by the inside of said bag a short distance, such as approximately one inch, from the top edge there- I As in the case of the front edge, which is engaged by the tension pins, care must be exercised to take up most of the slack in the portion of the bag between the points engaged by the'pins 22 and 23. Any slack in the side edges of the mouth of the ba will be absorbed by the tension pins 25 under the urging of the springs 30. It therefore becomes evident that the holding pins, tension pins and cooperating springs provide means by which the said bag is securely engaged and positively held while being filled.

The bag is disengaged from the holder by reversing the procedure by which it is engaged.

Figure 5 illustrates a variation in the support bracket 40 which supports the U-shaped member. The said bracket 40, comprised of a vertical member 4| and base assembly 42, is more particularly suited to use in connection with small or medium sized bags. Such type portable bag holder may be used satisfactorily as a refuse or garbage container, in which case the bag may be made of an appropriate material, preferably disposable, such as waterproof, or high wet strength paper. The support bracket 40 also eliminates the need for a separate means of support for the bag holder. Since any type of base assembly 42 providing a stable undercarriage is acceptable, details thereof will be omitted. The vertical member 4| may be fixed, as illustrated,

v for a given size of bag, or may be made vertically adjustable in any convenient conventional manner, not shown, so as to accommodate a variety of bag sizes.

Although the accompanying drawings and above description relate to and provide for a particular preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that it is not my intention, implied or otherwise, to limit the scope of my invention thereby, unless specifically stated to the contrary in the hereinafter ap ending claims.

I claim:

1. In means for holding the mouth of a bag in open position, the combination comprising: a substantially U-shaped tubular body member having arms diverging outwardly from each other; a bracket removably holding said body member in a substantially horizontal position; a holding pin diametrically through said body member at one bend of the U and extending away therefrom out of the convex side thereof a distance sufiicient to engage a portion of a bag resting against said body member; a similar pin located similarly at the other bend of the U; a tension pin comprising a cylindrical plunger, rod and rod head axially aligned and slidably receivable within said tubular body part at one free end of the U, said tension pin having a bag piercing and holding point on its end remote from the midpoint of said body member; a spring within said tubular body member between said rod head and the nearest of said holding pins urging said tension pin outwardly, and a stop pin through the side of said body member in register with said rod and extending radially inward of the periphery of said rod head and located at a point spaced from the nearest end thereof a distance such that the tension pin will extend beyond the end of said body member but will not escape therefrom; a similar tension pin similarly held and resiliently backed in the other free end of the U; whereby a bag to be held may be placed over said tension pins around said body member and over said holding pins and will be held firmly in such position and with the open end of the bag stretched fully open.

2. In means for holding the mouth of a bag in open position, the combination comprising; a substantially U-shaped tubular body member having arms diverging outwardly from each other; a bracket holding said body member in a substantially horizontal position; a holding pin through said body at one bend of the U and extending away therefrom out of the conVeX side thereof; a similar pin located similarly at the other bend of the U; a tension pin comprising a cylindrical plunger, rod and rod head axially aligned and slidably receivable within said tubular body part at one free end of the U, said tension pin having a bag piercing and holding point on its end remote from the midpoint of said body member; resilient means within said tubular body member urging said tension pin outwardly therefrom and means limiting its travel in response thereto; a similar pin similarly held, urged and limited in the other free end of the U; whereby a bag to be held may be placed over said tension pins around said body member and over said holding pins and will be held firmly in such position and with the open end of the bag stretched fully open.

EDWIN B. POTTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 194,584 Covert Aug. 28, 1877 836,966 Gerson Nov. 27, 1906 1,542,164 Nelson June 16, 1925 2,235,182 Weston Mar. 18, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 7,849 Denmark Oct. 28, 1904 

